Mya turned from the group and made her way toward a side opening of the room that had a blue cloth door covering it. Cotie followed closely behind. With the leave of Mya and the General, the King turned his attention to Faer who was rocking back and forth on his feet in a worry.
“Don’t fret, you won’t have to go outside.” With a smile and a chuckle again, King Uridine stepped toward Faer and placed a hand on his shoulder. Faer’s face had gone whiter with panic in all the possible reasons the King was laughing.
“What would you have me do your majesty?” Faer stopped rocking.
“A few days ago, Shershin was looking for you. Sounded like she had no idea you left with my daughter but was quite adamant to talk with you. There was mention about a cup and that your father needed it for a research project.”
“I have a feeling I know what she was after.” Faer reached into his cloak and pulled out the small black urn shaped item from hiding.
“By Incinolin’s blaze, she was right to worry.” King Uridine’s demeanor shifted to become very serious.
“Seeing as my father is a little occupied, I will go talk with the Apothecary right away.” Faer put the urn back into its hiding pocket and bounced his pack into place.
“Turi will be proud that his son is collecting as he did when he was younger.” The King smiled at Faer.
Pinching his lips together as he nodded, Faer turned toward another blue clothed door opening that was opposite the side that Mya and Cotie left and quickly disappeared.
“They will likely need you down in the city as well, helping.” The Queen had slipped up beside the King while he watched Faer leave.
“Tharissa, you will need to be upstairs getting prepared. Everyone will need you once things are finished out there.” Uridine turned and looked over his shoulder at his still sitting daughter who had uncrossed her arms and was leaning against the throne.
“You know not everyone will be saved? This will be the last time for many.” Tharissa spoke calmly.
“Sadly. No one will bother you as requested.”
Tharissa rolled her eyes to herself and slowly stood from her seat.
“You are lucky one of your daughters is blessed with the spirit of Eirolin father.” With a tempered spin on her heels, Tharissa exited the chamber through a third cloth door opening behind the throne where a set of stairs could be seen as she pushed passed the cloth.
“She is right you know.” The King’s attention turned to his wife. “The Dragons have blessed us with our two children and their abilities and we must not take that for granted.” The Queen closed in on him as he still stood with his back to the stairs.
“We are, Incinolin has made our people strong and with his children Eirolin and Tyrolin, have made our daughters into who they are today. Tharissa will need you again while she is casting, as always.” The Queen nodded and turned to follow their daughter. “And Rosenn, be careful.”
“Don’t worry my dear.” With a reassuring tone, the Queen disappeared through the blue cloth hanging in the back opening and left the King alone in the chamber.
His gaze scanned the room slowly as he sat in his throne and sighed.
“I know you are there. Come out.” His commanding voice filled the room as he sat into the throne chair.
“Caldri muurs thrandin bliis duu meidrae.” A dark shadow of a hulking figure slithered out of a dark corner near a pillar, staying within what little shadow was cast. The cascading light through the ceiling kept it at bay.
“You can let him know that she will not be tormented by the likes of you. You have no pact in this world and he will not be allowed to enter.” Uridine sat straight up in his throne.
“Furhdrae caall duu meidrae, shim err ilran duu Spiri. Uridine wursh imrotuu Necrolin.” The figure made no motion of aggression.
“She will be our guard and not give into your schemes. He must stay in his cage. You’re lucky the seals are weakening enough for you to make these threats. Go back to the darkness beast!” Uridine slammed his fist on the arm of the chair, an echo of silence bounced throughout the throne room. The figure slithered back behind the pillar with a subtle hissing noise, leaving the King glaring toward the shadows as the room again went silent.
“We won’t have much time; this needs to end quickly.” Uridine whispered to himself and hung his head with a sigh.
Chapter 4
Sounds of battle beckoned them with each step they took. The glass of the windows shook with every impact from the siege equipment and what could only be the turtles and the Gurge knocking at the city doors. No guards were present as they made their way to the front of the palace. Two immense doors that stretched up almost to the top of the room blocked their path at the end of the room.
“Glad you’re back Mya,” General Cotie gave her a side eye glance as they walked. “This would have been a hell of a fight without you.”
“Our army is well enough trained and seasoned, you would have been fine General. The battalion has not lost a battle in how many thousands of years?” Mya pulled her pack off her shoulders and dropped it beside one of the last pillars that lined the edge of center carpet. With a flick of her finger, the neck tie of her cloak came loose and billowed out, quickly grabbed and spun around her hand into a ball before tossing it back towards her pack.
“Still not dressing like a princess I see.” General Cotie chuckled.
With a smirk during her side glance, Mya pushed on the large door to the sounds of war clashing outside. Smoke was filling the sky near the main gate of the city, arrows could be seen whisking through the air, loud bashing of stone on stone and metal on metal created an orchestra of carnage.
“To the main gate then?” The General reached up to made sure his two blades were loose in their scabbard.
Mya gave him a side glance as she watched a soldier running up the main steps towards them.
“General! They are going to break the main gate.” The soldier turned and pointed towards the towering entry to the city.
“Head down to the tunnels, let them know to close the entrance.” General Cotie gave the soldier his orders.
A quick nod from the troop and he was off.
“Let’s get down there and have a little fun.” Mya had a little smile on her face, the kind of smile that would make anyone concerned, that hinted at a fury and a deep power of unimaginable strength.
Rushing through an empty city, the two sped by vacant stores and homes. The oddity of seeing the city so empty gave Mya an uneasy feeling, she was used to seeing it bustling with people mulling about their days; selling goods or just relaxing in the sunshine. Things felt darker, not only from the billows of smoke blanketing out the sky, but for the lack of personality that each street typically carried. The black plume was their beacon; get to the gate quickly and put out the fire.
“Take a left up past the bakery ahead, there will be a set of stairs up to the wall.” General Cotie pointed to a small break in the buildings.
Mya acknowledged with a silent nod.
Before getting to their goal, sounds of destruction filled the air quickly followed by an aggressive roar of excitement from the invaders. They have reached their first goal.
Mya picked up her pace as she rounded the corner into the lane, grabbing onto the side of the building to help her take the corner at speed. Just as the General mentioned, a small set of stairs started halfway down the alley. They became covered as they rose into the outer walls of the city.
With no time at all she bounded up the stairs, skipping two and three at a time. General Cotie tried to keep up but could only watch as she disappeared into the stone walls. Pushing himself up the staircase as well, his armour hindered his movements enough that they were a distraction. With having to pay closer attention to his footing, he almost ran into her at the top. The view had stopped Mya in her tracks.
The horde that waited outside the walls had finally poured through their victory at the gate, filling the streets like a tsunami of flesh.
Elven soldiers were waiting on the other side but could not keep them all back. They had to let them slip past the first few lines and into the side streets where others tried to corral them into combat. Flashes of gold armour and steel weapons striking against silver and black armour filled the city. Everywhere that could be seen held the breath of the battle.
“The conjurers should be our main target, reports have them to the north side of the main gate.” General Cotie pointed up past the smoke at the gate. Mya took off before he could lower his hand.
They raced along the rampart, past guards shooting and notching arrows, few even noticed them as they approached and passed. The two edges of the main gate had towers with massive kettles that looked like bells. Being tipped over by a handful of soldiers contributed to the extensive black cloud that blocked the sky as a bubbling oily liquid splashed down on waiting troops, trying to get into the city. Their speed barely slowed as they ripped through the tower entrances and through to the other side.
“There!” Cotie yelled up to Mya.
A large circle gathering of hooded figures stood all facing each other. Mya skidded to a halt above them and peered over the edge. General Cotie stopped beside her and looked over, darting his eyes at everything below.
“Looks like they have started their chant. We have to get down there to stop the summoning.” Mya said.
“Summoning what?” General Cotie urgently looked at her.
“Lore for the Darke has their inner circle conjurers able to open a portal to the Dragon Realm and bring any mention of the beasts that wander their lands. Turi had mentioned they like to summon Caltrii for battles. Small enough to get into any kind of assault and strong enough to keep the tide in their favour. A demon built for destruction.” Mya kept her stare on the conjurers.
“A Caltrii won’t last long in the sun though.”
“Won’t be a sun long enough with all this smoke. They will likely need them to get into the palace and then their numbers will do the rest.” Mya gave General Cotie a concerned piercing glare. “What comes before the summoning of the creature is what we really want to stop.” Mya shuffled her feet looking like she was about to jump off the side.
“What happens before the summoning, and how are you planning to get down there?” General Cotie stepped back like something was going to attack him.
“Just be ready.” Mya’s sly smile came back as Cotie pulled his two swords from their hold, making a subtle ringing against a quiet hissing, like a blacksmiths steel being plunged into their slack tub.
Mya closed her eyes and cupped her hands together like she was holding a small ball between them. She started to utter under her breath and pulse her hands together slowly, expanding them further apart with each pulse. A black void-like entity formed between her hands and expanded wider and wider until it was wide enough for them to step through.
Never opening her eyes, Mya spoke. “Grab my shoulder, we will only have a handful of seconds before we have to start again. We must kill as many as we can, hopefully it will be enough to stop their conjuring.”
The void formation pulsed quickly; it was large enough for both to step through together. A swirling portal of darkness; life, sight, reality seem to be sucked into it. Into nothing. General Cotie had seen this once before. Scared him then and still put fear into his mind and soul.
General Cotie placed his hand on her shoulder. Mya’s hands clenched into fists and she pulled back with her fists and the darkness enveloped them. With but a blink they were on the muddy field below the rampart, only a handful of meters from the circle of hooded casters. Before a chance to gather his bearings, Mya was already off like a flash, sprinting toward the circle.
“Be careful, they have guards.” Mya pointed with a dagger that somehow had gotten into her hand, she was fast.
General Cotie looked to her right where there was a small group of armoured soldiers bearing down on them, weapons drawn. Pushing off into his own sprint he made for the advancing party.
The General clashed into the group with both blades, cleaving one in half with his magma blade, causing the pieces of flesh to catch fire as it sliced through. His other blade found a home in the chest of another, being deflected from the first target. The body it found its connection froze over solid almost instantly and fell to the ground, shattering as it landed. With a backspin to drive both blades into another attacker, both swords sparked off the side of the rampart stone.
“Careful with those things.” Mya bounced back from the Generals swing.
“I was able to only get two.” General Cotie relaxed slightly, keeping the tips of his blades low as he looked at the princess. She was a little winded but surprisingly very clean from being in recent combat. With only mud on her boots and the odd splash of blood on her shirt.
“Was able to get four casters myself, need to try and get closer for the next one. You distracting the guards helped but round two will be trickier.” She whipped her small blade to the side, throwing what blood sat on it against the stone of the walls.
“Think it was enough to stop.” General Cotie was cut off by a deafening blast from down below.
A burst shot up into the sky and faded from sight through the haze of the black smoke. Thicker clouds formed into the dark smoke, it didn’t take long for the sun to be covered over and a shadow loomed over the city.
“That’s not good.” Mya spoke softly.
Both turned to face the inner city looking for something, anything to make an appearance.
A second bright flash ripped its way up from the conjurers into the cloud formation, colouring it an emerald green. Within seconds of the change, a massive bolt of lightning struck the center of the city, exploding the main plaza fountain, sending elves from both sides, goblins, and orcs flailing high into the air. Living and corpses from both sides rocketed away from the epicenter to all around the plaza; over buildings and through the roofs of buildings beyond.
The bolt disappeared leaving a massive hole, water still gushing from the fountain began filling the crater. The entire battle scene stopped in awe and bewilderment. The shock from the strike toppled what was left of a nearby building, crushing the group that fought at its base. A sphere of energy could be seen inside the crater, expanding to about the size of an orc. Energy covered the shell, sparking electricity to anything nearby.
“That can’t be allowed to happen again. One more and they will have the portal to bring it in.” Mya put her knife away and closed her eyes, starting her own spell.
“Have we ever fought a Caltrii?”
Mya just shook her head.
“Just stories?”
Mya nodded.
“Give me a little more time to make it stable, should be able to get more time down there. Just let me know what the guards are up to will you?” Mya began her pulsing in her hands to form the void portal again, but a little slower this time.
General Cotie peered over the edge of the rampart. “Looks like they have a solid circle around them now, and a handful of goblins have showed up.”
“Any good spot for us?”
“Far side, there is a small cart they have to circle around.”
Mya nodded.
The portal grew slower and seemed to pull in more of reality around it. It felt and looked much stronger of a spell. Mya kept her hands moving slowly and uttered the same words over and over until her hands were wide enough like before, the portal was ready.
“Ready?” Mya kept her eyes closed as she spoke.
The General grabbed her shoulder in acknowledgement.
With another blink, they were again down on the ground, face to face with the armed group. Her aim with the spell this time was near perfect, right beside the cart. Their teleportation was quick enough to give them a lead in the attack and both wasted no time at all. Blood erupted left and right as Mya took off from the cart towards the circle again.
Nothing could slow her down, she shot between bodies with blinding speed. The dagger of hers wa
s small but did the trick, a larger blade would only slow her down. Leaping into the air and thrusting it into the face of a goblin, Mya rode it to the ground and leapt off the corpse toward the first hooded caster before it hit the ground.
Pulling her open hand back, Mya flicked her fingers a part and a small blue flame engulfed her palm. With a quick spin of her hand, she shot the small fire ball towards the far side of the conjurers, igniting the cloak of the caster instantly and sending them backwards in a blaze. One more down. As she landed, she threw her dagger out to her right, into the gut of the closest, wedging in deep and knocking him over.
General Cotie wasted no time and was close behind her. Heading to the other half of the circle. Guards close on his heels and enveloped from all sides. His blades whirled through the air, slicing through steel and flesh as if they were butter. With each swing, a body would either ignite in flames or shatter in ice that made the rest of the combatants slow their approach, they knew this fighter and his blades.
“Nice to see you back in battle General.” A deep Elvish voice came from over by the cart.
General Cotie spun in a brief interlude of his chaos.
“Mordain.” Cotie glared.
“I see the Dragons bitch child is alive and having her fun again.” Mordain was a little hard to see being covered in shadow from the massive cloud overhead. Looking over General Cotie’s shoulder to Mya who had dispatched the final conjurer. “This is only one of many plans, I am sad that you were not in the plaza, but I finally get to…”
Within another blink, the stone from the ramparts was below their feet again and the bloodbath of Mya’s carnage lay below them. Mordain and what was left of the small group of goblins stood in the shadowed clearing covered in bodies and blood.
“One thing moving our way with stopping the summoning, but we should get to the main gate.” Mya cleaned her blade on her leg before sliding it back into its scabbard on the small of her back.
Age of Souls Page 6
